Language

I just wanted to talk a bit about language because I think a lot of people's fear is not being understood. I've been a jerk a lot lately and made fun of how people speak and I don't know why because I know that it's an insecurity for me too (so maybe that's why? Nahhh). I don't intend it mean spirited, but it doesn't really matter how I intend it if it's construed in a way that is mean.

Language has always been a big insecurity for me. As a kid, I was deathly terrified of not being understood, of never being able to say my R's or of speaking "correctly." Language has been a big part of my life. Just the other day, I was defining a term and was told I was wrong and when I looked up the definition later, it said I was correct. We, as people, have a need to be understood. We want someone that understands us, that understands our innermost feelings so that we can connect to them easier.

One thing that I've learned throughout this semester is that language can be tied to a culture and part of getting rid of a culture is to get rid of their language. To make their language obsolete and to have their children start to learn a new one. It's not right. We learned about the Sami people and we had to watch a movie about how their language started to be erased, but they still weren't Swedish. They learned the language, they went to the schools but since they weren't only Swedish, they still got lesser treatment. We fear outsiders and someone not being able to speak our language makes someone automatically an outsider. We can't understand them and they can't understand us.

Language is beautiful and convoluted and we all want to be understood, we all have a need for our feelings to be validated. One thing that I've heard a lot recently is that "your feelings are valid but how you react to them might not be." Another thing that I've heard is that we have to be influenced by our surroundings. We are social creatures and we seek that validation. I'm not saying that every aspect of you should conform to your surroundings, in fact I think most of it shouldn't, but I do believe that if you're going down a wrong path and the people that love and care about you speak up about it and you say "this is who I am," then maybe you should reevaluate who you are and who you want to be. Sometimes you'll find that they weren't speaking in your best interests, but if you listen and you try to understand where they're coming from, you might find something new and you might become even more "yourself."

So I guess all this to say is be a little nicer to people when they're speaking and correct them, but don't laugh at them. They're doing their best just like you are and that's all that we can ask from either of you. I don't have a lot of room to speak on this topic because I've laughed at people trying their best. I thought we were joking, but jokes aren't always jokes to the other person and I need to do better on that front. I'll keep trying though, everyday to be better and to do better. I might slip up and I won't be perfect right away, but that means getting up and trying again because people I love are being hurt by me and that's not okay with me. That will never be okay with me. There are few things I can change with my friends, with my family's struggles, but this one thing I can.

Until next time,

Alex Risdall :)